Is Dianne Feinstein following in the footsteps of Lieberman?
Is Dianne Feinstein following in the footsteps of Joe Lieberman? Voters want to know.
For example, Sen. Feinstein recently joined with the Republicans in voting to pass the Kyle/Lieberman amendment to the Department of Defense Budget, which essentially gives Bush the authority to attack virtually any country that he decides should be attacked - and Bush and Cheney already have Iran in their sights.
In addition, she was one of 22 Democratic senators who joined the Republicans in condemning the MoveOn.org ad in the New York Times that portrayed Gen. David Petreaus for what he really is, just one more of George Bush's military hacks who will do and say what he is told to do and say, a la Colin Powell.
She also recently voted to approve Bush's appointment of Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, as one more in Bush's efforts to stack the judicial system with right-wing zealots. She did this, in spite of Southwick's judicial history of favoring special interests against workers and consumers, his demonstrated bigotry against racial minorities and women, and his homophobic judicial decisions based on sexual orientation.
There is a place for people like that -- it is called the Republican Party. And on top of all this, she refuses to answer any letters from constituents or engage with them in any meaningful way. Thus, this is more than merely a matter of partisan politics; this is a matter of bringing accountability back to the Senate.
And yes, she makes noises against the Bush administration at times. But the problem is that she does not go far enough. She is like the person who alternates between stabbing us in the back and then giving us bandaids. The fact of the matter is that she does not recognize the Bush administration for what they are -- the most corrupt administration in US history, and one of the biggest criminal enterprises. George Bush could be indicted for over 20 different war crimes alone.
The problem is that she talks out of both sides of her mouth. On the one hand, she postures as a liberal so that she can get reelected. But on the other hand, she turns around and provides the Bush administration with key political cover, such as on the FISA cavein and the Southwick nomination.
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The case against Dianne Feinstein
The Senators who caved in on FISA
Eliminated:
John Chiang
Ron Dellums
John Garamendi
Bill Lockyer
Jerry McNerney
Rob Reiner
Frank Russo
Loretta Sanchez
Hilda Solis
Antonio Villaraigosa
Diane Watson
Steve Westly
Lynn Woolsey
This week:
Sheila Kuehl
The Candidates:
Bowen protested Governor Schwartznegger's three vetoes of bills that would have reformed the election process. These vetoes say it all -- Democrats are about voter participation; Republicans are about vote suppression.
AB 466 (Hancock) would have ensured that students could volunteer at the polls on Election Day without depriving their schools of their average daily attendance money. Faced with difficulties recruiting enough poll workers for Election Day, elections officials are relying more and more on student poll workers to bridge the gap. For their part, students get to "learn and earn" – experiencing a real election up close while earning a small stipend. As a state senator last year, Secretary Bowen carried a similar bill, SB 1193, which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
AB 1151 (Lieu) would have required county elections officials to allow voters to check their registration status via the Internet or a toll-free phone number.
AB 773 (Blakeslee) would have allowed voters to return their vote-by-mail ballots to any polling place in the state on Election Day. Under current law, voters can only return vote-by-mail ballots on Election Day to a county registrar or polling place within the county where they are registered to vote. Under AB 773, election officials who received vote-by-mail ballots that belonged to other counties could have forwarded them shortly after the election.
"California has a highly mobile population, and many people work in a different county than the one they live in," said Bowen. "This bill would have allowed people who forget to mail in a ballot and are commuting to a job far from home or are traveling within the state on Election Day to turn in their vote-by-mail ballots at any polling place or election office and have their votes counted. Right now, these voters don’t have their ballots counted, and it’s disappointing the Governor couldn’t support a solution to this problem that’s so simple and inexpensive."
Improving access for disabled voters:
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released the details of a settlement that requires Kern and Santa Cruz counties to improve accessibility to polling places. Each settlement requires the counties to upgrade polling facilities, employ an architectural consultant, and provide additional training to employees who select and setup accessible polling sites on election days.
These settlements resolve complaints filed by the Attorney General’s Office in 2005, after the state discovered that polling sites surveyed in Kern County and Santa Cruz County had barriers that could make access to the polling site difficult, hazardous or impossible for voters with disabilities.
Such barriers include: polling sites that had excessively steep slopes or other obstacles in the path of travel to the polling site, abrupt level changes in the walkways leading to the polling sites, accessible parking spaces that were not wide enough to accommodate vans and access ramps leading to polling sites that lacked handrails.
San Francisco as America's Favorite City:
Mayor Newsom announced today that San Francisco has again taken top honors as the country’s number one city. Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, considered as one of the world’s top travel and destination guides, has ranked the city of San Francisco as the top travel destination among US Cities for the 18th consecutive year. San Francisco has garnered the number one spot 18 out of the 19 years the magazine has conducted its reader’s poll. In its 20th annual Readers’ Choice Awards to be featured in next month’s edition, approximately 28,000 readers choose San Francisco as their top travel destination.
"I think if you asked any environmentalist about George Bush's policies on the environment he gets quite close to a 'D' or an 'F'," DiCaprio told reporters at a news conference in Los Angeles to promote his new documentary, The 11th Hour.
The Congresswoman commissioned a poll on what the American people wanted Congress to do about Iraq, and the American people have spoken:
"We found that fully 70 percent of those surveyed rejected giving the President further funding for Iraq without conditions, and people favored requiring funds be spent on redeployment over providing the administration funds without conditions by a two to one margin.
"Twenty four percent of respondents supported voting against the funding, 22 percent supported unconditional funding and 46 percent supported providing funding only for redeployment. Eight percent responded "don't know". Results were similar among registered voters.
"So with the support of the American people, we are going to continue to build support in Congress for fully funding redeployment. In July I joined with my colleagues Representatives Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters in sending a letter to President, signed by 67 other members of Congress, saying that the only funding we would vote for is funding to protect our troops and bring them home. We recently reopened that letter and the number of signers is up to 87, and we hope to add more before we send the letter next week.
"The truth is that the President's stay-the-course policy provides an exit strategy for him at the expense of our troops. It allows him to run out the clock on his failed policy and slip out the back door to leave the American people holding the bag.
Since the Congress returned in early September, an additional 19 House Members have co-signed an updated letter to President Bush putting him on notice that they will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during FY08 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq before he leaves office. In this updated letter, the broad collection of House Members cited the skyrocketing human and financial costs of the President’s failed Iraq policy and warned that the occupation’s costs will be felt for generations to come. The original letter which was co-signed by 70 House Members and delivered to the White House in late July was initiated by the Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs – U.S. Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) -- and Out of Iraq Caucus Chair, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).
"We are writing to inform you that we will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq before you leave office [...]
"We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq, and believe it is unwise and unacceptable for you to continue to unilaterally impose these staggering costs and the soaring debt on Americans currently and for generations to come," they wrote.
Waters is sponsoring a bipartisan bill that would bring about debt relief for third world nations. Jubilee USA is leading a fast in order to promote the bill.
The 40-day fast began Sept. 6 and is slated to end tomorrow, Oct. 15. The fast has been led by the Rev. David Duncombe, who has been making visits on Capitol Hill advocating for the passage of the Jubilee Act, HR 2364. The act would provide debt relief for developing countries. It does have bipartican support, with U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., joining Bachus in introducing the bill earlier this summer.
"Today in dozens of poor countries all over the world, little boys and girls are born into poverty, disease, and hunger," Bachus said in a statement. "Fasting for one day cannot begin to compare with their painful and heavy burdens. But I am convinced that if more Americans learn about the hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of lives that can be saved through debt relief, they will see this as something we ought to do out of the goodness of our hearts."
Waxman and Dennis Kucinich wrote a letter to Ray Hunt about his possible undermining of US policy:
We are writing to inquire about the recent oil exploration contract your company, Hunt Oil, signed with Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government. By signing a contract directly with a regional govemment, you may have undermined U.S. national policy of working toward the passage of an oil revenue sharing plan, which the Bush Administration has called a critical step towards national political reconciliation in Iraq and the return home of U.S. troops.
The U.S. Embassy has expressed concern about your actions, and Iraq's Oil Minister immediately condemned the deal, calling it "illegal." Even President Bush, one of your close friends and business associates, stated:
I knew nothing about the deal. I need to know exactly how it happened. To the extent that it does undermine the ability for the government to come up with an oil revenue sharing plan that unifies the country, obviously if it undermines it, I'm concerned.
In particular, concerns have been raised about whether you used nonpublic information learned from your position on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board to further your company's economic interests. This board is tasked with providing "advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of intelligence collection, of analysis and estimates, of counterintelligence, and of other intelligence activities ... [as well as] the legality of foreign
intelligence activities." Its members routinely meet with intelligence principals, receive classified briefings, visit installations, and "have access to all the information related to foreign intelligence that they need to fulfill their vital advisory role." lndeed, all departments and agencies that engage in intelligence activities are bound by executive order to provide the board with "all information ... deem[ed] necessary to carry out its responsibilities."